


July 4th

by Alsike



Series: Fake Empire [4]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 12:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alsike/pseuds/Alsike
Summary: Just a moment at a holiday.





	July 4th

“You know,” JJ said, later in the evening, when Emily was helping her carry in the decimated plates of brownies and soggy angular watermelon stragglers. “I think I’ve gotten used to it. It wouldn’t be a family holiday unless Emma was here. She’s like that irritating uncle who always shows up grumbling about politics or money and tells dirty jokes in front of the children.”

Emily laughed. “Not… exactly.” Emma was on a lawn chair with a book in her lap, doing her best to be anti-social, likely because Garcia and Reid were having a heated discussion about female comic book superheroes. Garcia laying it on heavily for Oracle, Reid in support of Wonder Woman, and Morgan chiming in, and being soundly ignored, on the merits of Big Barda. Henry and Didi were running around, chasing fireflies. “And don’t tell Emma you think of her as part of the family. I don’t need to deal with that freak out.”

JJ looked over. Henry had caught a flying insect and had brought it over to Emma’s lawn chair. She sat up when he came, and looked down when he opened his hands, smiling and telling him something as it crouched there, tail blinking. “Part of the family might be a little extreme. But Henry likes her.” She made a face. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not. Henry’s scared of most adults, he’s scared of _Reid_ , but not Emma.” She shook her head. “At least she ate solid food this time. I was kind of worried she lived on coffee and champagne.”

“Yeah, um, pork chops and potatoes, that sort of food, fancy American style, it’s what her family ate a lot. She doesn’t like to be reminded of them, and she can’t really stomach it anymore.”

“Oh.” JJ looked shocked. “I didn’t realize.”

But this was one of those things Emily often wished she didn’t know about Emma. She knew too much, and it made her forgive her things that really shouldn’t be forgivable. “She’d probably rather I hadn’t told you. Apparently hamburgers are fine though.”

JJ glared at her. “She ate it with a fork and knife. And Henry copied her.”

Emily laughed. It had been a sight to watch. Emily had worked her entire life to pass as not unrepentantly upper class and had actually gotten used to eating grill food with her fingers. Her fingers were sticky with ketchup afterwards, and she had touched Emma, who was as tidy as if she had been eating at a formal French restaurant, leaving sticky fingerprints on her cheek. Emma had caught her wrist and sucked her fingers clean and then told her that she was disgusting. Emily had been an inch away from tackling her right there.

“It’s good you told me,” JJ said, after the dishes had been piled up. “If she’s sticking around.”

Emily gave a weak smile. That was always difficult to predict. Emma didn’t like to be made to feel obligated, but when she took on a responsibility, she would go to any lengths to fulfill it.

“But the laundry room is off limits! New Years was enough. I am not interested in walking in on you two recovering from grinding off on my washing machine again. My _washing_ machine! Who on earth thought that was a good idea?”

“We were both pretty drunk.”

JJ gave her a look. “You especially. It’s not like Emma has any inhibitions that need lowering in the first place.”

* * *

Morgan had procured a box of sparklers, and they were lighting them when Emily came back out. Emma made room for her on the lawn chair, and they managed to tangle up in it without knocking the whole thing over.

Henry and Didi ran around waving theirs excitedly, and Morgan and Reid tried to fence.

“Someone’s going to lose an eye doing this,” Emily muttered.

“I want to bet it’s one of the grownups,” Emma said, grinning. “You ever done it?”

“Sparklers? No.” Emily glanced at her. “I mean. I’ve seen fireworks, I’ve seen them in _China_ , and, well, I’ve seen a couple bombs go off.”

“Not the same thing.” Emma extracted herself and went and lit two sparklers. She brought them back, giving Emily one. The sparks streamed off of them like leaves in a waterfall. Emma pressed the tips of hers against Emily’s, and they burned away from each other, sparkling and crackling until they died into embers.

“That’s all?” Emily asked, sounding sad to see the lights go.

A sharp crackle like nearby thunder broke the air around them.

“Hey!” called Morgan. “The fireworks are starting!” He and Garcia both grabbed a child and they all sat in the grass, looking up at the sky.

Emma leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Emily’s. “If you burn that bright and hot, some times you fade out too soon.”

“You’re saying the slow smolder’s better?”

“Not always. Sometimes you just have to let the fire burn.”

Emily murmured her assent, and Emma kissed her. Fireworks exploded in the sky above their heads. Didi and Henry cheered, Didi exclaiming that it was just like the war celebration parade, Henry pointing at the colors and yelping his notice of each new shape of starburst. JJ and Will came out of the house. Will wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist. JJ’s eyes fell on the occupants of her lawn chair. She groaned.

“Someone had better get them out of there when the fireworks end,” she said. “Almost family or not, if they have sex on my lawn furniture, they are not invited back!”


End file.
